08 Sep 2014
Australia and New Zealand's largest hotel operator, Accor, has won ten major accolades at the 2014 HM Awards for Hotel and Accommodation Excellence, including Accommodation Chain of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.
Accor was one of the most triumphant hotel groups at the 2014 HM Awards ceremony held at Sydney Town Hall on Friday night (5 September), receiving a further eight Highly Commended achievements across a variety of categories for outstanding hotel properties, departments and people.
It was a big night for Accor's luxury hotel brand, Sofitel, coming home strong and winning four award categories including, Finance Associate (Taurn Abraham, Sofitel Auckland Viaduct Harbour), Hotel Engineer (Anton Van Den Brink, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins), New Zealand General Manager (Wouter de Graaf, Sofitel Auckland Viaduct Harbour) and Environmental Program (Sofitel Melbourne on Collins).
Economy brand ibis made it to the winner podium with ibis Sydney Airport crowned Economy Property of the Year, while the iconic Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains MGallery Collection won Best Meetings and Conferencing property. Owner of the Fairmont Resort and a number of other Accor hotels including Mercure Sydney, Schwartz Family Company Hotels won the highly respected Service to the Community Award.
Accor triumphed in the People Award categories with the coveted Rising Star Award going to Ramiza Hassan of Mercure and ibis Brisbane, while John Timson of Academie Accor won Human Resources Associate of the Year.
Eight Highly Commended Awards were awarded to Sofitel Brisbane Central (Business Hotel), Mount Lofty House MGallery Collection (Regional Property), Sofitel Queenstown Hotel & Spa (New Zealand Hotel), Novotel Hotels and Resorts Australia (Marketing Campaign), Reno Verikakis of Sofitel New Zealand (Sales & Marketing Associate), Greg Brady of Mercure Sydney (Australian General Manager), Sofitel (Hotel Brand) and Michael Issenberg Accor Chairman and CEO (HM Magazine Asia-Pacific Hotelier of the Year).
Chief Operating Officer Accor Pacific, Simon McGrath, said “We are humbled to receive an outstanding array of awards at the 2014 HM Awards, and it is a fitting tribute to our 10,000 employees across the region that we once again received Accommodation Chain of the Year.”
The annual HM Awards acknowledge, reward and celebrate the enormous achievements which exemplify excellence in performance and service within the hospitality industry across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. For a full list of Award winners see www.hmawards.com.au
Media Contact:
Ginni Post
Accor Hotels
02 9280 9874
Accor, the world's leading hotel operator, offers its guests and partners the dual expertise of a hotel operator and brand franchisor (HotelServices) and a hotel owner and investor (HotelInvest) with the objective of ensuring lasting growth and harmonious development for the benefit of the greater number.
With more than 3,600 hotels and 470,000 rooms, Accor welcomes business and leisure travelers in 92 countries across all hotel segments: luxury-upscale with Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, and Grand Mercure, midscale with Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio and economy with ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and hotelF1. The Group boasts a powerful digital ecosystem, notably its booking portal accorhotels.com, its brand websites and its loyalty program Le Club Accorhotels.
As the world's top hospitality school, Accor is committed to developing the talents of its 170,000 employees in Accor brand hotels. They are the daily ambassadors of the culture of service and innovation that has driven the Group for over 45 years.
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